SHINE Medical Technologies LLC, a nuclear technology company based in Janesville, announced Wednesday it has selected the municipality of Veendam in the province of Groningen, Netherlands, as the location of its European medical isotope production facility, according to a press release.
Construction on the new European facility is expected to begin in 2023 and commercial production is planned to begin in late 2025, the release said. The facility will be focused initially on the production of molybdenum-99 (Mo-99), a diagnostic isotope used in procedures that identify heart disease, cancer and other conditions.
SHINE is also building a Mo-99 production facility in Janesville. The exterior construction of that facility is complete and the building will be ready for use in late 2022, according to a release from the company in March. Combined, the U.S. and European production plants will be able to produce 70% of the global patient need for Mo-99, according to Wednesday's release.
The European facility will be a copy of the new Janesville facility, according to a frequently asked-questions (FAQ) memo published in March on SHINE's website.
“The selection of the location for our new European facility is another demonstration of SHINE’s commitment to being the world leader in the production of vital medical isotopes,” said Greg Piefer, SHINE’s chairman and CEO. "Progress on our U.S. facility continues and our experience with that project will be important during our work on the new facility in Veendam.”
Veendam was selected out of a pool of more than 50 proposals from sites across Europe for reasons including the availability of highly skilled and educated workers, accelerator technology knowledge and infrastructure, and easy transportation access to the European market, according to the release.
In April, SHINE announced it completed a merger with Phoenix LLC, a company that Piefer founded in 2005 to develop and commercialize a unique technology that generated neutrons through fusion. SHINE spun out of Phoenix in 2010 but after the recent merger, Phoenix is now a wholly owned subsidiary of SHINE. Piefer's long-term vision of the combined company is to produce clean energy from fusion, according to an April press release.
Since its founding in 2010, SHINE has raised more than $500 million, including $450 million in private investment funds that have either been received or committed and $50 million in government funding, according to the FAQ. The company needs additional money to fund the European facility.
"The funding of the construction of the SHINE facility in Europe will benefit greatly from the commercial success of the SHINE U.S. facility beginning in 2022," the FAQ states. "The company firmly believes that the funds needed for the construction of the facility in Europe will be achieved once a license to construct it has been granted."
